Annual Benefit Statements

Your Annual Benefit Statement provides an estimate of your benefits up until the statement date (31 March).

It is produced using information provided by your employer and includes an estimate of your current benefits. These benefits are calculated using your pensionable earnings as at the statement date.

Your Statement is produced in PDF format and is sent directly to you via your work email address which is our default method. In exceptional circumstances, where we do not have a valid work email address, we will send a hard copy by post to your home address.

Benefit statements are password protected with the numerical element of your National Insurance (NI) number. For example, if your NI number is AB123456C, then your password will be 123456: do not include the letters.

You will receive a Statement if you are:

• An Active Member.
• A Partial Retiree (if you have a pension in payment and are also contributing to the scheme).

You should check your statement and then keep it in a safe place as JSS will not provide you with a copy statement.

Your statement contains details about you and your pension, including:

• The personal details that JSS holds about you.
• Your current salary (including any permanent pensionable allowances).
• Your benefits at a glance including an estimate of what you've built up so far. For the purpose of the statement, basic salary and permanent pensionable allowances as at the statement date are used to calculate your benefits.
• Your scheme membership; e.g. Nuvos, Premium, Classic or Classic Plus.
• Details of your current Death Benefit Nomination (DBN).

For a brief guide as to how benefits accrue in the different RCPS versions, please refer to the How your pension is worked out (PDF, 116KB) - opens in new window - guide.

Receipt of Benefit Statement

If you have not received your Benefit Statement this could be due to a number of reasons:

• Your Statement may not have been produced yet.
• Your Statement may be delayed whilst JSS checks with your employer to validate the information contained within your pension record.
• Your Statement may have been sent to a previous email address, this could be due to you moving to a new location / council / employer and not updating your details directly with JSS.
• You were not a member of the pension scheme on the statement date (31 March) or started employment after this date.

If you are concerned about not receiving your Statement, please email statements@jss.ukri.org

Pension Contributions

Each month your employer deducts pension contributions from your pay, these deductions can be viewed on your payslip.

Pension contributions are used to cover the cost of the scheme and do not equate to how much pension you have accrued.

The RCPS is a Defined Benefit scheme which essentially means the pension you accrue is based on your salary or earnings, reckonable service, and a scheme accrual rate. It is only Defined Contribution (DC) schemes which are based on the contributions paid in. The RCPS is not a DC scheme so there is no relevance to show the contributions on the statement.

The amount you contribute to your pension is based on the 'pay band' your earnings fall into each pay period. Please remember that these contribution rates are subject to change.

The employee contribution rates can be found on the Pension Contributions page of the JSS website.

Pension Saving Statement

In some cases the Annual Benefit Statement will include a Pension Saving Statement, this is for those members that have exceeded the Annual Allowance or have requested a statement. More information on Annual Allowance can be found on the Pensions and Tax section of the JSS Website.

State Pension Benefits

Additional Service or Pension credits

This may be included on your Statement and includes:

• Added Pension from either regular contributions or lump sum payments
• Transferred in pension
• Casual Service Credit
• Aggregated or linked credit relating to earlier RCPS membership

Deferred or Earlier RCPS Membership

This is shown in your statement if:

• You are a current Classic Scheme member with earlier Classic deferred service that is eligible for aggregation with your current membership. An estimate of aggregated benefits will be shown within your Statement. If earlier RCPS membership ceased due to redundancy, then the aggregation option is not available. The option to aggregate is available when you next leave or reach age 60, whichever is sooner.
• You are currently in Premium, Classic Plus or Nuvos, any aggregated or linked membership will be incorporated within your Statement. Aggregation applies to the joining up of same scheme benefits, for example, Nuvos to Nuvos or Premium to Premium. Linking applies to the Nuvos scheme whereby earlier final salary benefits have been linked up to later Nuvos membership. If earlier RCPS membership ceased due to redundancy, then the aggregation or linking option is not available. If you have earlier deferred membership that is not aggregated or linked, a Pension Increase letter is issued every April to advise up to date deferred pension values.

Partial Retirees

Statements provide the details of your active service only. Reckonable service and pension is calculated from the day after you take partial retirement.

Further Information

Questions and Answers

What is the earliest date I can take my benefits?

The earliest you can take your pension is 50 (55 if you joined after 1 April 2006), with more than two years service. This is called Actuarially Reduced Retirement (ARR).

It would be helpful to see projections for the future in the statement

As the scheme is due to be reformed, we do not generally include projections. We do however write to members, who are within 2 years of (or beyond) their scheme pension age (60 or 65) to give them the opportunity to request a projection date within their statement.

How much income will I need when I retire?

We can not tell you how much you need, it all depends on what sort of lifestyle you would like to live. More information can be found on our retirement planning page.

What will my pension be from 55+?

For early retirement calculations, please use our ARR calculator, which shows you what your pension would be reduced to, the calculator can be found on our Leaving page.

What is my pension at 60?

As pension benefits are calculated on several factors (e.g. annual salary, inflation, reckonable service, pensionable earnings), it would be difficult for us to predict a members pension when they turn 60 or 65 depending on the scheme.

Will my pension be taxed in retirement?

As your pension is classed as taxable income, you will be taxed according to your tax code.

The projected retirement date is not the date I expect to retire. Can I change this?

For Annual Benefit Statement purposes, yes. You can change this with us any time by emailing statements@jss.ukri.org

What is my scheme retirement age?

This is also known as Scheme Pension Age. Depending on the scheme you are in, this will be either 60 or 65 and is mentioned in your Annual Benefit statement.

What happens to my pension if I resign?

Members with at least two years qualifying service will have their pension and (lump sum if applicable) preserved in the Scheme. These benefits are increased each year in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). We would write to you annually with details of the annual increases to your preserved scheme benefits.

Why can I not view my benefits on a pension portal?

Our website does not have this facility

Can you provide information on the future changes expected such as The McCloud Remedy and how it is likely to impact those 55+?

The McCloud Remedy only affects reformed public service pension schemes. The RCPS has not yet reformed, therefore is not affected by The McCloud Remedy. In addition, any changes made by schemes related to the McCloud Remedy do not affect the RCPS.